'Internet predator' gets prison

ºSecond case still pending against 25-year-old who posed as teen.

February 26, 2011|LOU MUMFORD | Tribune Staff Writer

CASSOPOLIS -- A 25-year-old Union man whose image of himself differs widely from reality, according to Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz, is heading to prison for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

"He fancies himself a junior high Casanova when all he is is an Internet predator," Fitz said Friday by way of characterizing Justin Hively.

Convicted by a jury last month of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct offenses, Hively was sentenced to a 6- to 15-year term by Cass Circuit Court Judge Michael Dodge. He'll receive credit for the 87 days already served in the county jail.

Fitz said Hively initially contacted his victim via the Internet, claiming to be 17. Referring to Hively as "very narcissistic," the prosecutor pointed to a second criminal sexual conduct charge still pending against him in Allegan County. That case, too, involves a 14-year-old girl Hively is alleged to have met over the Internet.

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"He's had problems in his life, but this isn't about him. He has victimized two girls, and he never mentioned the impact on them," Fitz said.

But in court on Friday, Hively stood and faced his victim, apologizing to her and her mother and claiming he had learned a lot about himself during his time in the county lockup. He cried as he spoke.

"I hope everything is OK. I'm sorry for the pain and suffering I caused you," Hively said. "I wish I'd never come that day and picked you up."

Dodge said Hively was 24 when he contacted the Cass 14-year-old online and convinced her to lie to her parents so the two could get together. According to Dodge, Hively lied to his own mother as well, picking up the girl at her home and driving her to his residence in Union where he hid the girl in his bedroom for a weekend in January 2010.

Two acts of sexual penetration followed, the judge said, adding that Hively's semen was discovered on a pair of the victim's underwear. The evidence contradicted his claim that the two never had intercourse, Dodge said.

The judge said his arrest the following month should have been a wake-up call, but instead Hively contacted the second 14-year-old in Allegan County and

talked her into sneaking out of her house so she could meet him in his car for a series of midnight liaisons. Those sessions, too, involved intercourse, Dodge said.

Fitz said Hively's conduct should send a warning to parents everywhere.

"The four walls of a home aren't all the protection you need with electronic communications," he said.

Also Friday, a Dowagiac man sentenced last year in connection with nine area home invasions was re-sentenced based on his attorney's diligence that altered his sentencing guideline score. Instead of a minimum 51-month sentence, Dodge handed Joshua Williams, 22, a 3-year prison minimum.

It was pointed out Williams has attempted to better himself in prison by studying for his GED and taking part in a volunteer work program.

Also, a Niles man with 11 previous convictions primarily involving illegal drugs was sentenced to two years of probation, with the first 60 days to be served on tether. Jason Kurz, 27, had earlier entered a guilty plea to the delivery and manufacture of marijuana.

Although Kurz has a medical marijuana card he said he obtained to offset headaches stemming from a 2005 auto accident, police who visited his home in June found three of his 12 marijuana plants unsecured in a closet, Dodge said. Fitz argued that Kurz admitted to using marijuana daily since he was 13 but Lawrence Quigley, Kurz's attorney, said he didn't believe his client was flaunting the state's medical marijuana law.